Layers

I've had a new idea!! It came to me whilst we were looking through the superbly inspiring stalls at the Knitting and Stitching Show. An embroidery company that The Mother loves, Rowandean, which designs and sells embroidery kits, had some beautiful finished examples of their kits on the walls. The ones which caught my attention were tiny. Simple, elegant little pieces which were essentially a rectangle of organza on a plain backing, with little floral stitches in one corner, reminded me very much of my ATCs which I haven't been able to make for many months since my ATC group closed down.

There are so many things you can do with ATCs (Artist Trading Cards); leave them as small cards for swaps, attach them to the fronts of greetings cards, or frame them in simple frames, either on their own or in sets. Because of their size, they can also be mass produced-ish, so I thought I would give making stitchscape versions a go. It's funny how things can be brought together, and looking back over some of my old ATC designs, it would appear I was making stitchscapes long before I realised!

I decided that rather than spending time tacking the fabrics down like I would normally, it would be much quicker to use Bondaweb and iron them down. I chose a selection of fabrics to use and ironed strips of Bondaweb to the back, then cut them into smaller strips and arranged them to cover the ATC shape before removing the paper backing and ironing them down.

It was a very pleasant hour playing with fabric and colour, arranging and rearranging, playing with composition and layering. The themes going through my head were cornfields, rapeseed fields, poppy fields, Spring and Summer. Now that I have my backgrounds made up, I will go back over them and work in a similar way to my normal 'scapes, but on a pared down scale. It should be fun!

I am also very excited to say that as I have outgrown the living room with my Stitchscapes (those frames take up quite a lot of space!), I have borrowed some space at a relative's house. They had a spare outbuilding that was only being used to store tables and chairs etc and said that I could use it to put my bits and bobs in. The above photo is a sort of 'before', except that we had already been in and removed quite a lot, and The Mother had given it the once over with a duster during the week (I think she's quite relieved to get rid of me).

Today I moved in!!! We removed the remaining odd bits of furniture and 'stuff' being stored there, although I have kept the big table, a chest of drawers and an iron case which didn't have anywhere else to go. There are lots of available plug sockets which is handy as I can plug in the old radiator to keep away any damp, and still have lots of space for a radio and some lamps to make it homely.

You can see where my beautiful bowl has ended up! Looking rather marvellous on the window ledge there with some of my framed 'scapes. There are still some things to come in to this room to make it more practical, at some point there are shelves going in on the back walls so that I can display more of my stitchscapes and bring in some of my fat quarters of fabric- I am fully intending on spending many mindless hours re-arranging them into piles according to pattern and colour. I think I will also need a pin board on the wall for images or ideas to be stuck to- so much to think about. It's not a glamorous space- the carpet tiles don't fit properly and the skirting boards stop and start at random places along the walls, but it is mine to use and that's fine.

I would also quite like to re-paint the wall a lighter colour (it's quite yellow at the moment) but there are some holes to be filled in and it's not urgent. As I couldn't remove the old trunk, I have prettified it with some of my crochet blankets (also intended to be practical in the winter should it get a little chilly whilst I'm working in there). Perhaps I could also have a comfy chair in the corner to sit and sew in at weekends? Oh the possibilities!

It seemed like the weather was pleased with my new space too, there were beautiful blue skies and balmy temperatures with blazing sunshine lighting all corners of the garden. It was such a good omen as I pottered around in my crocs, laying rugs and dusting the leaves of my Prayer plant. I am visualising many quiet, relaxed days spent sat in the garden, inches away from my 'room of inspiration'.

Blue sky from every angle!

Yup, I think I could make myself quite at home here!